


The Lost Conversation

by Squeemu



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Fanfiction of Fanfiction, Gen, Missing Scene, No Angst, Post-Advent Children (Compilation of FFVII), Tifa and Kunsel are not together (yet), Vague references to Zack's death, only flirting, they're working on it though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-12 21:48:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28517403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Squeemu/pseuds/Squeemu
Summary: It's been seven years, and Kunsel hasn't stopped looking for Zack, searching for clues about what might've happened to him. And now, finally, his hunt might be over. He's information has led him here, to Seventh Heaven, and to the rookie, Cloud, who'd gone with Zack on his last mission.He's so close to learning the truth, but now that he's here, he has to overcome one final obstacle.Tifa, the bartender.- - -A lost scene fromAlassa'slatest FFVII comic,The Lost Friend. The comic (and context for this scene) can be found onhere on twitter, and the full comic plus some extra bonus WIPs can be found onAlassa's patreon.
Relationships: Tifa Lockhart & Cloud Strife, Tifa Lockhart/Kunsel, Zack Fair & Kunsel
Comments: 20
Kudos: 52





	The Lost Conversation

**Author's Note:**

> Written as a (late) Christmas gift for my very good friend, Alassa. Thank you for letting me play in your sandboxes _and_ for making me wonder so hard about how this first meeting would go between them that I just had to write it out. <3

“—What did you say your name was?” she asked, moving behind the bar to make good on her offer of a drink.

“I didn’t. But it’s Kunsel.”

“Tifa,” she replied. 

_Tifa_. Kunsel stored that away and grinned. “Pleasure to meet you, Tifa.”

"We'll see about that," Tifa told him with a small smile, settling behind the bar. “So, what'll it be?"

"You have any whiskey?" Kunsel asked.

The smile widened slightly and she turned without a word, selecting a bottle from one of the shelves behind her.

Kunsel arched his eyebrows and watched her pour out the drink, accepting it with a loose grin. "So how long have you had this place?" he asked, before she could shove him out the door.

She gave him a long, unreadable look. "Long enough." She paused. "It's not my first bar," she added, handing over that bit of information with the same rueful reluctance she'd handed over the tumbler of whiskey. 

"So you're an old hand at it." No wonder the bar felt so welcoming, warm and lived in. The places around here didn't last very long, scraped together from the remains of old buildings and random pieces of junk. This place, though. This place was different. Stepping through the doors, Kunsel felt like he'd been stepping back through time, sometime before the meteor hit..

Tifa was smiling faintly, but she also had one hand placed indignantly on her hip. "Are you calling me old?"

He blinked, held his hands up. "Of course not!" She was sharp, not giving him an inch. 

It was going to be a fun afternoon.

"Does 'experienced' sound any better?" he tried.

The smile quirked up and she leaned forward a little, her elbows resting on the bar. "Not by much."

He gave an exaggerated wince, taking a sip of the whiskey she'd poured him, and blinked. She'd given him the good stuff. Or at least, something better than the usual piss that got served down here in the slums. He raised the glass in a salute. "Well, between the atmosphere and this whiskey, I can see why everyone says your bar is the place to be."

She let out an amused breath. "Uh huh," and gave him a pointed look. "And Cloud working here doesn't hurt either, I'm sure."

She wasn't letting it go. "Give yourself at least some of the credit," Kunsel told her. "You can't tell me you don't draw in your fair share of the customers."

Her smile turned slightly whimsical. "Maybe the repeat customers. But everyone's heard of Cloud." She straightened a little. "You don't mind if I do a little work around here, do you? I have to get ready to open up soon."

"Not at all," he said and sat back, watching her work. She was fast and efficient, which told Kunsel she didn't just own the bar, she worked it, too. And from the look of it, she was good at it. He took the chance to look around while she was busy, sipping at his whiskey and taking in all the bits and pieces that made up Seventh Heaven: the small personal touches Tifa'd given the place, softening the bar’s rough history, distracting from the dents and scratches in the wood, the edges of the furniture worn and forgotten. 

He let a few minutes go by before he asked, "So what's the story with Cloud, anyway? I've only ever heard rumors."

"You've only heard rumors?" She was carefully putting away some glasses on a rack that hung from the ceiling, her back turned to him. It was a very nice back, Kunsel had to admit. "And yet here you are, wanting to talk to him anyway."

Kunsel blinked, pulling his attention off her very nice back and sticking it firmly back onto the conversation where it belonged. Most people were just _waiting_ for the chance to talk, and Kunsel was always happy to provide it for them. Tifa, though... she was stubbornly ignoring every change he gave her, keeping her thoughts to herself.

He shrugged casually. "I'm a curious kind of guy."

"I can see that," Tifa said, only a hint of dryness in her tone. "Well, lucky for you, you'll get to ask him yourself soon."

Kunsel took that in. Her back was still half-turned, but he could see the slant of her cheek, a strand of her dark hair falling into her face. She looked busy. Serious, but hiding it under a smile. And there was something else, there, too, the barest hint of irritation tugging at the corners of her mouth, pulling her eyebrows together. 

No. Not irritation, he realized suddenly. _Concern_. She was worried about the fact that Kunsel was here, asking about Cloud. Worried about a man whose eyes were stained with mako, bleached Shinra blue, looking for her live-in roommate.

He was on the right track.

The realization caught him by surprise, his breath catching at his throat. He was almost at the end of it of his search. Finally about to find out what had really happened, back then. Zack, sent on a mission to the middle of nowhere with two soldiers in his care, going utterly quiet for the first time in his life. And then, two test subjects escaping from a Shinra lab out in the same middle of nowhere.

Neither Zack nor the soldiers had ever returned.

It was a stretch, Kunsel knew. But if Tifa was protective of Cloud, maybe she had a reason to be.

This was the closest he'd come to finding out the truth. 

He took a deep drink of the whiskey, trying to cover his sudden nerves and the adrenaline spiking through his chest. 

"You're right," he said, backing off, trying to show her he meant no harm. "I'll ask him myself. But," he tossed back the rest of the whiskey, "does that mean I get to keep asking about you in the meantime?" He softened it with his most charming grin. 

He saw the grin hit. A flicker of a smile, a twitch of her eyebrow. And an amused, "Depends what you ask."

Kunsel rubbed his hands together. "Alright. So you're not dating the guy who lives up there," he said, pointing up. "But you never said if you're dating anyone else."

Tifa's laughed, clear and bright. "At least you think I'm only living with the one guy," she said, not answering the question at all.

“I didn’t want to seem too bold,” Kunsel told her.

"But it wasn’t too bold to ask who I was dating?” she asked, one eyebrow arched.

"I need to know what my chances are."

"Very low," she informed him, but she was smiling. 

He sighed theatrically. "It's the mako eyes, again, isn't it."

"Among other things."

“ _Other_ things!" he protested. "There are other things?" A beat. "More than one?"

"At least a few," she said and then winked. 

He clutched his chest, right where she'd delivered the fatal blow to his heart. "Well," he said, pushing over his empty glass, "after _that_ blow to my pride, I think I need another drink." He paused, hand still on the glass. "Can I buy you one, too?" He stopped, hastily added, "Not as a date, of course. But I'd like to make up for your time somehow."

She shook her head. "No, but thank you. It is my bar, after all," she reminded him, taking the glass out of his hands.

"You still have to pay for the liquor," he pointed out.

She smiled, bright enough it was obvious all the others had just been polite. "Touché," she quoted back at him. "But I hope you realize that I only drink from the top shelf."

He laughed. "Make it two, then. If I'm going for broke, I might as well really dig myself in the hole."

"Dig yourself into a lot of holes, Kunsel?" she asked, standing up on her toes to reach her bottle of choice. 

"More than I should probably admit to." 

She laughed. "Maybe I should make you pay _before_ I let you drink my really god whiskey."

He shifted, digging his wallet out good-humoredly. "See? You've got lots of experience," he said, handing over his card. "Experienced isn't a bad thing."

"The experiences were," she informed him. She crossed her arms, tapping his card against that ribbon she’d tied around her arm. It showed off her biceps very well. Kunsel appreciated that. "You don't even want to know how much I'm charging you?"

"Surprise me."

"But then how will you know how much to tip?" she asked with her own very charming smile.

He was going to be _very_ broke after this, wasn't he? But if he was right about this lead, he would've earned it. "Alright," he said, "give it here. Maybe _I_ can surprise _you_.”

She smiled at him and handed the machine over, wiping the counter off and hanging the towel up behind the bar. "Looks like I finished my chores early," she said, only barely glancing at the receipt before setting it aside. She poured them both out a glass and walked out from behind the bar, heading over to a table by the window. "Keep me company while we wait for Cloud?"

"Don't mind if I do," Kunsel said and followed her over to wait. 


End file.
